Voices of mass incarceration to be heard on radio show
Published 1:30 am Wednesday, February 15, 2023
“Life without parole doesn’t have to be life without hope.”
These are the words of Grady Mitchell, an early member of the Washington State Black Prisoners Caucus (BPC) who spent 37 years of his life behind bars.
Mitchell will join fellow BPC members, Willie Nobles and Cyril Walrond as guests on a Voice of Vashon REALTalk special, on the topic of mass incarceration, with host Susan McCabe, at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, on 94.9FM and at voiceofvashon.org.
Mitchell, Nobles and Walrond will share their personal stories of life in prison — how they got there, and how they survived physically, mentally, and emotionally while incarcerated.
Mitchell was given a life sentence without the possibility of parole as a young man. He managed to find support and solace with the BPC, a group that has made profound changes in the state’s prison system, and in the lives of prisoners.
By working with prisoners inside the system, BPC members have developed considerable expertise in ways to make the criminal legal system more effective in rehabilitating criminals and, more important, preventing crime in the first place.
Behind the term, “mass incarceration” are the life stories of thousands of individuals in Washington State penitentiaries. A disproportionate number of those lives are Black men, many of whom are incarcerated as youths.
“These young people never have the chance to grow into adulthood in a responsible way,” said Mitchell. “They don’t learn anything good in prison and have no opportunity to create an identity of their own.”
One goal of the BPC has been to create a community and a collective voice for Black prisoners in Washington State.
According to Nobles, the BPC’s work has both reached communities outside prison walls and galvanized the communities inside them.
“The BPC helped us begin to build each other into men,” he said, adding that the BPC gave its members humanity beyond their Department of Corrections (DOC) numbers, acceptance within their community and the agency to be accountable to each other for their passage into adulthood.
The three BPC members who’ll appear on REALTalk have survived and managed to thrive in long prison terms.
Now, as returning citizens, their families not only welcome them back but are benefiting from the resilience they gained through the work they did to grow while incarcerated.
REALTalk specials are produced with support from Voice of Vashon’s Content That Matters department. Keep independent community radio alive, by donating at voicieofvashon.org.
